March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Julia Pierson has been the highest-ranking woman at the U.S. Secret Service for years. Now she’ll
simply be the highest-ranking official after she was sworn in
today.

President Barack Obama appointed Pierson, the Secret
Service’s chief of staff since 2008, to the top position
yesterday, making history by appointing the first woman director
at an agency that was tarnished by a scandal in which its agents
allegedly patronized prostitutes in Colombia while preparing for
a presidential visit there.

“Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not
only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our
financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first
families, including my own,” Obama said in a statement
announcing the appointment.

Pierson was sworn in as director of the agency during a
ceremony in the Oval Office. Vice President Joe Biden
administered the oath as Obama looked on.

“She’s breaking the mold” for the agency, Obama said to
reporters. “She’s come up through the ranks, done just about
every job there is to do.” The president added that “we’re all
extraordinarily proud.”

“As Joe Biden pointed out, this person now probably has
more control over our lives than anyone else, except for our
spouses,” Obama said.

Dual Roles

The appointment elevates Pierson, 53, who worked as a
Disney World parking lot attendant while in high school, to the
top of an agency with dual roles of protecting the president and
safeguarding the nation’s financial infrastructure. The agency
has a budget of more than $1.7 billion and employs about 7,000
people, according to its website.

“You constantly hear our employees talk about the
mission,” Pierson said in a 2007 interview with Smithsonian
magazine, in which the Florida native also mentioned her teenage
employment at the Walt Disney Co. theme park in Orlando. “I
think that goes to the Type-A personalities we attract, and the
criticality of being able to multi-task and meet deadlines.
We’re a small agency with a large mission.”

The agency didn’t make Pierson available for an interview.

Senator Tom Carper, the chairman of the Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee, called the appointment
“welcome news and a proud milestone.”

Daunting Logistics

“Ms. Pierson’s vast experience has prepared her to lead
this agency with its critical protective, investigative and
cybersecurity missions,” Carper, a Delaware Democrat whose
committee oversees the agency, said in a statement.

The logistics involved in the agency’s best-known duty --
protecting the president -- are daunting, Pierson said in an
interview with the Partnership for Public Service, which
promotes government service.

“I don’t think people realize the amount of preparation
work that goes into a presidential visit, everything from where
the president is going to physically arrive, whether by airplane
or limousine, to the actual event site,” she said.

Pierson takes over an agency that was stung by the
departure of at least nine employees after allegations that they
hired prostitutes while setting up security for a presidential
visit to Cartagena, Colombia.

The agency was criticized by lawmakers and the
administration for the incident. Then-director Mark Sullivan
made multiple trips to Capitol Hill to address concerns.

Colombia Scandal

In all, more than 200 people were questioned by the agency
during its investigation into the Colombia scandal. Nine
employees were found to have engaged in “serious misconduct.”
Another nine U.S. military service members received non-judicial
punishments for their involvement in the April 2012 incident.

Sullivan, who announced his departure in February after 30
years with the agency and the third-longest tenure as its head,
received compliments from lawmakers and Obama for how he handled
the fallout of the prostitution scandal.

“Just as Director Sullivan led the Secret Service through
some difficult times, Director Pierson is poised to continue the
agency’s proud non-partisan legacy,” said Representative
Darrell Issa, a California Republican and chairman of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Pierson’s Advancement

Pierson came to the agency in 1983 after three years with
the Orlando Police Department. Steadily advancing through the
ranks, by 1988 she was transferred to the Presidential
Protective Division, where she spent four years, according to a
biography posted on the Women in Federal Law Enforcement
website. Pierson spoke at the group’s 2009 leadership training
conference.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Pierson was on the presidential
protective detail and in charge of making sure “everyone was
accounted for,” Pierson said in the Smithsonian interview.

Pierson became deputy assistant director of Protective
Operations in 2005, overseeing the presidential and vice
presidential protective divisions in the role. After almost two
years as an assistant director, Pierson was appointed to the
chief of staff position in August 2008.

The Secret Service, once part of Treasury Department, is
now under the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Secretary
Janet Napolitano called Pierson’s appointment “historic” and
called Pierson “exceptionally well-qualified, and well-equipped
to lead the men and women of the U.S. Secret Service.”

Technology Modernization

In her role as chief of staff, Pierson has been responsible
for the modernization of the agency’s information technology and
processes, Napolitano said.

Pierson takes over an agency created in 1865 to combat
counterfeit currency. In the decades that followed, it was
reshaped to become the full-time protector of presidents and
foreign dignitaries. The agency began providing part-time
protection for the president in 1894 and assumed the full-time
responsibility in 1902.